Requiem
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: it was a freak accident that landed Ichigo Kurosaki in this strange new world where the dead walk, human kind is on the verge of extinction, and she is the only shinigami in existence. She had been alone for little over a year, casually observing but never really interacting- until she got attacked to the group at the prison. Fem Ichigo/Rick/Daryl fic.
1. Chapter 1

It was a freak accident.

That's all that it had been. Or rather that's what she tended to tell herself when she felt herself becoming enraged about being in such a strange new world, alone. Without her friends or any knowledge of whether or not they were safe and well.

She had been with her Shinigami friends, Rukia and Renji as well as Ishida and Chad when Rukiji, which is what she now called Rukia and Renji when she was annoyed with the two- had began arguing over how to use one of the Soul Societies gadgets as she had been studying what looked very much like some weird sort of doorway or gate.

They had gone to the location of the disruption to find walking corpses wandering around and had quickly dealt with them before any civilians could get hurt.

Taking care of the things had been the easy part. Trying to figure out how to place a barrier and figure out what was on the other side of the door/gate- not so much. At least not without going through it.

Anyways... Rukiji had been arguing with each other rather animatedly as she had been carefully studying the door/gate. The energy coming off of it had caused a strange pain in the center of her being, though she didn't know how that was even possible and the next thing that she knew- she was being bumped into by one of her friends and only heard a slightly startled squeak from the two other Shinigami as someone had muttered, _"Oops..."_ As she had fallen forward and before she could even scream or shout or in this case, and perhaps even more appropriately- curse at the two for being such idiots in the first place- she had fallen through the door/gate and landed in another world.

For the first few days, she had stayed as close to the door/gate as possible. Call her optimistic, but she had expected someone to mount a rescue.

However after several weeks had quickly turned to a month and then two- she had quickly lost her optimism and instead had focused on surviving.

Which she wasn't going to lie, was somewhat easier than expected in some cases. Like when she was in her Shinigami form and could use her bankai and such. Whereas when she was in a weakened state the only thing that she could rely on was her wits, speed and agility.

It had been well over a year since she had first come to this world, and in that time she had seen all manner of things and people. Many of which she had had no choice but to fight against and wipe out because of the threat that they had posed to herself and others.

To date she had run across at least a dozen or more groups that she had been forced to wipe out. She had learned early on to steer clear of places claiming that they were safe and housing other survivors. The people in those places usually lied.

The last place that she had run across had been Woodberry. And though she had slipped inside a few times to check it out, she had noticed right off of the bat that though the place held survivors...the guy that had run the place was sick in the head.

She'd witnessed first hand his love for the rotten corpse of the little girl that he had kept locked away in the closet of one of the houses as well as his collection of severed human heads.

She'd known then and there that the place would fall because of the man's madness and she had left to go and observe another group that she had come across at one point or another.

They had been living in a prison. Literally.

And though their leader had been a bit off kilter from... _grief_? He had also been someone that commanded everyone's respect and looked out for his group in ways that had made her admire him herself.

She had slipped within their home in her Shinigami form several times to check out how they were managing and had upon more than one occasion- had to go out of her way to feed, burp and change the infant in the group, as well as bring small things that they needed.

Extra medicines, vegetable seeds, fruit tree's, bushes and vines and other things that she had found. Including hygiene items, baby clothing, wipes, extra formula and so on.

After her last drop off, she hadn't bothered to leave the prison for a few days, the relief of finally finding a group that actually seemed to be doing okay- had simply been so great that she hadn't been able to leave them right away for fear of what might happen.

Not only that but she had been absolutely exhausted and had spent those several days regaining her strength and sleeping undisturbed. Not long after that, once she had been feeling better- she had taken her Shinigami form and left again.

Easily walking out of the prison without detection so that she could go back out into the world and do some more work knowing damn well that she would be back to check up on them.

And she wasn't wrong, she had been.

The day that the prison had fallen, she had returned from about a month of strenuous work in dealing with all of the dead that she came across, collecting food, drink, clothing, and medical supplies. And carrying them all with her in a large, and heavy duffle bag that most girls her age wouldn't even be able to lift, much less carry while running at high speeds like she did.

Upon reaching the prison, she noted the tank and people outside of the outer fence and growled in annoyance as she realized what was going on and _who_ exactly had instigated the whole thing and dropped her bag so that she could move among the enemy of the prison group easily and without detection.

Upon getting a closer look she realized that there was a hostage situation, among other things, happening. Baring her teeth in a silent snarl she felt her spiritual pressure swell somewhat, causing her form to flicker in and out of existence almost like a mirage.

The only people that would actually be able to see her up close, were the ones that she planned to get close enough to kill. Everyone else would merely think of her as nothing more than a trick of the light.

She waited until the man calling himself the Governor, went up to an old man with snow white hair, who was bound at his feet, and raised a katana blade to strike him down before pulling her zanpakuto and quickly moving to block his downward swing.

She could still recall the nearly slack jawed look of utter shock and disbelief as the katana blade struck her zanpakuto with a loud clang, followed by a screech as the metal of the two blades rubbed against each other as she forced him back away from the defenseless elder and the woman next to him.

The man staggered under the force that she put behind the maneuver and damn near fell on his ass before he righted himself and started screaming at her.

Inwardly laughing about the fact that he was at this point the only person who could see her, she placed her zanpakuto on one of her shoulders and waited for him to regain some semblance of sanity- which sadly didn't happen before he finally turned to someone and told them to shoot the two hostages.

Growling she quickly planted her foot in his face and then turned and ran over to the two and quickly grabbed them before putting on a burst of speed that would have, even under the most normal of circumstances, have left her feeling dizzy and lightheaded and used it to carry the two at least a mile into the woods before turning and changing direction, just in case the Governor sent people out to find the two that she had suddenly found herself saddled with.

She was just in the process of gently setting them down underneath a large oak, taking note of their dazed and somewhat confused expressions, as she did so when she heard the first bit of gunfire being exchanged in the direction of the prison.

Reaching out absently to untie the two, she paused ever so briefly when the old man managed to somehow grab onto her fingers, disrupting her Shinigami form and causing her to switch back to her normal form and become visible to him and his friend.

The woman's jaw dropped open in shock as she stared at her through wide, dark eyes as the man asked, "You're the one who saved us?" She shifted her attention to him for a second and slowly nodded her head, looking more and more uncertain of what to do as Hershel quickly said, "I have children at the prison, two daughters. Maggie and Beth. And friends too- all of whom are good people... C-Can you help them too?"

He got a slow nod from the girl as he, Michonne, and the mystery girl all heard the shuffling and growling of some walkers drawing near them mere moments before they broke out of the tree line and into the small clearing.

Hershel abruptly released the girl's fingers and watched as her hand went to the grip the large blade on her back and watched in fascination as her honey amber eyes started to glow a soft icy blue along with the sword until the massive blade began to shorten and change itself until it looked much like Michonne's.

Only with a solid black, razor's sharp blade which she then spun around in her hand until she was holding it out to them and waited until Michonne caught on and took it before then turning and exerting some sort of unknown force to throw the walkers that had been coming towards them in every direction.

Sending them crashing into tree trunks, and entangling them in tree branches fifty feet away or more before she then turned to them and said in a low, raspy voice, "Defend yourselve's with the zanpakuto while I'm gone. But don't leave this area. It'll be harder on me to find your people and bring them to you if you run off."

And with that- the girl disappeared as if she had never been.


	2. Chapter 2

_"Y-You saw that too right? I'm not finally going insane out her- right?" Michonne asked in a slightly trembling tone as she turned her head slightly to look at him._

 _Hershel merely smiled and said, "You're no more insane than I am."_

 _"So you did see her too?"_

 _"Yes." Hershel said easily, not bothering to tell his friend that he'd seen the girl off and on here and there over the past few months or so. Especially since it would probably alarm her even more than she already is to know that a being of supernatural abilities had been wandering around in their midst for such a length of time._

 _If not longer._

* * *

Everyone at the prison had seen her once or twice off and on since they had first begun to settle at the prison. A young girl, barely three years older than Carl, dressed in strange black clothing with long strawberry blond hair that fell nearly to her waist in the back while the front of her hair was long-ish and wild looking.

Even Rick had seen her a time or two when they had started taking in people and clearing out the tombs.

Which was why when the situation with the Governor began to get out of hand and the girl suddenly appeared and placed herself between Hershel and a particularly nasty demise- no one knew what to think. I mean, it wasn't as if the apparition was real.

Until... The moment that the massive blade that she carried on her back, struck Michonne's katana, everyone behind the fence of the prison couldn't stop themselves from reacting in shock and staring in wide eyed _disbelief_ when the person that they had thought was nothing but some sort of harmless ghost...suddenly became very, _very_ real to them.

And what was even more surprising was the fact that despite all of the times they had seen her coming and going, she had never once seemed to interact with any of them that Rick and the others were aware of. And yet here she was- her form shimmering in and out of existence in the sunlight- just like it always did, and yet she was somehow fighting for them.

Trying to protect two of his currently bound and disarmed and defenseless people. But it seemed almost to him as if she were finally deciding to interact for a different reason. Not just to protect Hershel and Michonne.

No- to him it was almost as if she were trying to say, **_These people are under my protection, back off!_** Though Rick doubted that anyone even realized it yet.

Still the moment that the Governor had lost his shit due to her immediate presence, he and many others had been hard pressed to hold back a smile and some laughter at the near comical look on the man's face. Much less the foul string of curses that he had shouted at her.

Whoever she was, _whatever_ she was- she seemed to have the natural effect to cause others to unravel like lunatics. And the governor had been no exception to this. The man had unraveled faster than a mentally ill person doing cocaine at a rave.

No more than he had finished swearing his foul string or oaths did he shout out the order for both Hershel and Michonne to be shot and killed, when the girl had lifted her leg and planted her foot firmly in the man's face with such force that she had sent him to the ground bleeding as she had then turned and run to Hershel and Michonne and grabbed them both and then took off running into the woods so quickly that Rick almost couldn't track the movement.

Almost, being the operative word there.

Taking a moment to let his gaze flicker among the Governor's people, he took a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that the girl- whomever/whatever she was, was able to interact after all. Meaning that she was as real as he was.

But if she was real enough to interact...how did she do that weird shimmering, mirage thing to hide herself? He wondered, not that it obviously didn't come in handy but still...was it some sort of technology that she'd gotten her hands on? Was it something specifically geared towards making people invisible?

Or was she part Predator?

Sure she was a hell of a lot prettier than one of the ugly fictional SOB's, especially with her wild and exotic appearance, but even he had to admit that the way she appeared and disappeared was very much like the iconic movie monster.

He jumped a little bit when several of the enemy ran over to the woods and began to spray the area with gun fire as someone ran forward to help the governor up off of the ground.

Rick could see from where he was standing that the man's nose was broken and his face was stained in crimson. He couldn't tell much else about any of his other wounds, but it didn't matter- apparition or not, the girl had just earned her place in his group and if he and the others made it out of the prison alive, he'd be sure to find a way to tell her in person.

The governor finally gave the order to attack, just as Rick had known that he would, and both groups began exchanging bullets. Everyone aiming to hit their enemy and kill them automatically without needing to waste unnecessary artillery.

It was while he and the others were exchanging fire with the governor that the girl reappeared from the woods and began dropping people. Like literally, dropping people.

Rick didn't exactly see what she had done as she ran by some of them, but he did see the blood spurting up into the air, and the looks of shock upon some of their faces as their heads, arms, and even their torso's fell apart as the girl ran straight for the tank.

Everything from there seemed as if it was going in slow motion to Rick and the others trying to protect their home. None of them knew how the girl managed to break through the enemy lines, but one thing was for sure- she wasn't hiding herself anymore and they could see her rapidly closing the distance between herself and the tank as some people turned and began to shoot at her.

Those people were picked off easily, though Rick was sad to say that she must have taken a bullet or two due to the fact that her body suddenly jerked almost completely to the side once and her quick steps faltered a little bit before she abruptly picked up speed again.

The moment that she reached the tank was something that Rick and the others would never forget no matter how long they lived in this fucked up world. Seeing something like that simply wasn't a forgettable thing.

One second the tank had been preparing to fire, and the next there was a loud shrieking sound like metal being ripped apart as a blinding blue light enveloped the piece of heavy machinery and was quickly followed by a loud **_BOOM_** that sent everyone still alive, down to the ground as the tank exploded in a ball of red orange fire.


	3. Chapter 3

Rick lay on the ground, twitching, his retina's temporarily displaying nothing but pitch black while he heard nothing but a... _loud-ish_ ringing in his ears causing him to shake his head repeatedly as he slowly tried to gather his wits and see what was going on now.

Blinking his eyes helped to clear his vision some after several moments? Minutes? Or was it longer? He didn't know, he temporarily had no concept of time. Much less anything else.

Finally after what seemed like forever, but was actually only a few minutes, his hearing and sight slowly began to come back to him- allowing him to both see and hear his son Carl, calling for him among others as he took a moment to look around and saw Maggie and Carl shooting down the walkers that had managed to get through the fence.

No doubt because it now had a huge hole in it from the explosion. While he caught the vague sight of Daryl carrying someone carefully cradled in his arms and hauling ass back towards the rest of them. It took Rick a few more seconds or so to finally pick himself up off of the ground and to finally realize that the apparition had taken _everyone_ out.

 _Holy-_ He started to think to himself as he twisted his head this way and that so that he could check on the others visually before he then glanced back towards where the governor and his people had been and found nothing but corpses strewn about the ground.

The governor, and his group were gone. Literally gone!

The tank was gone, a large portion of the fence was missing, and their were a few walkers wandering around the prison yard however aside from all of that- his people were fine. Everyone was alive. He was alive.

Speaking of alive...he needed to go and see who Daryl had been carrying.

Because he honestly doubted that anyone had survived the close proximity to the tank when it had exploded.

Staggering to his feet, he started making a beeline first for his son. Needing to check on him real quick and assure himself that he was okay. Once that was done, and he'd taken stock of any injuries that his son may or may not have sustained, he then headed for where Daryl knelt on the ground next to someone, ripping up his shirt.

"Daryl?" Rick called out as she slowly made his way over and stopped cold when he saw the apparition. Only she didn't look like a ghost or phantom now. In fact she looked as human as he was, which only drove the idea home in his mind that she was obviously more than she appeared to be.

The girl was stretched out on the ground, fighting to stay conscious as her strange black clothing continued to shimmer and vanish over and over again until they just seemed to disappear completely in a puff of smoke.

Leaving the girl in a ripped and torn, dirty grey wife beater that was covered in various stains. All of them old with the exception of the blossoming crimson that was slowly spreading along her stomach where Daryl was trying to use his ripped up shirt to staunch the flow of blood as the girl watched them with wary, honey gold colored eyes.

"How badly is she hurt?" Rick found himself asking once he was done looking the girl over. Daryl didn't bother looking away from his task as he said.

"She's been shot twice-"

"Twice?"

Daryl made a non committal sound and pointed to one of her legs that had a few pieces of his shirt wrapped tightly around it and bound in place. "I ain't too worried about her leg as I am her stomach. The bullet went all the way through- and I don't know if it hit anything vital..."

Rick was about to say something else when the girl groaned softly and rasped in a breathy tone, "D-Didn't...hit...anything vital... J-Just hurts..."

"You understand us?" Daryl asked in an slightly surprised tone. Not because she understood them- well, not totally anyways. He'd been taking note of various physical features that she possessed ever since he had lain her on the ground to tend to her injuries and had noticed that the shape of her eyes was slightly shaped like Glen's.

They were wider, sure, but not so wide that they didn't hold the slight almond shape to them.

Aside from that he'd also taken note of her age- she had to be about sixteen. Just three years older than Carl- which in and of itself was _beyond_ shocking to the hunter considering how she had been able to fight, carry Hershel and Michonne off to parts unknown, and kill a bunch of people and destroy a tank... All single handedly.

He'd also noted the shape of her face, it was heart shaped, her hair- while a strawberry blond with orange hues to it- was long, thick, well groomed and cared for. Her skin was fair, not quite a snow colored white- she had a slight tan that belied the time spent outdoors.

Other than all of those things, there was also her size and build. She was five foot ten, athletic, had a petite build. But it was her unnatural looking eyes that held his attention more than anything.

He'd never seen such eyes on a person before.

They were mesmerizing.

The girl took several shuddering breaths before she slowly nodded her head to confirm that she understood them well enough as her eyes slowly drifted shut for a moment or two before Rick startled her wide awake by dropping down to his knees next to her and demanding, "Hershel and Michonne? Are they- were they okay when you took them?"

She stared at him for a moment before nodding her head again and rasping out weakly, "Both are alive and well. A mile from here, in the woods towards the northeast a ways."

"Do they have anything to defend themselves with?"

"Yes." Was all that she could manage to get out before she finally lost consciousness.

* * *

Rick and Daryl both stared at the girl for a second before one of them finally reached over and placed his fingertips against the slender column of her throat and felt for a pulse and let out a shaky breath upon finding it strong and steady, if a little bit on the weak side.

"Oh thank god," Rick said as Maggie, Carl, and Beth along with Glen all came wandering over to see what was going on.

Everyone took one look at the girl and just seemed to freeze in shock with the exception of Glen. The Korean took one look at the girl screamed and went scurrying for cover behind a run down car as Carl said, "Dad...you see her too right?"

"Yeah, yeah I see her too." Rick said as he reached out and drew Carl closer to him just in case. His mind already going over possible scenarios where the girl turned into a walker or something and they couldn't easily kill it- er her. He meant to say her.

"She's not a ghost." Maggie said as if she were having trouble trying to come to grips with their current situation. Her words however were loud enough to partially draw Glen out of hiding with a carefully worded,

"You sure? Maybe someone should...poke her with a stick..."

Daryl snorted and turned his head to glare at the other man for a moment before he said, "Ain't nobody gonna poke er with a stick. She's injured. More specifically, she _got_ injured trying to protect us."

The gears in Rick's head were turning a mile a minute as he said, "Yeah I know." But he didn't know what to do right then about the girl.

He had no issues with helping another survivor stay alive. Hell he had no issues with helping someone who had shed blood to protect him and his own. So there was no question that they would at least treat the girl's wounds before trying to figure out where to go from there.

"W-What about Hershel, Mishonne? They okay?" Carl asked with a frown as Maggie shifted back and forth form foot to foot while biting her lower lip.

"She said that they're alive and well. She even gave us a general location about a mile from here. Northeast. Somewhere in the woods I'm guessing. She also gave them something to defend themselves with. Or at least that was the general impression that I got." Rick said in response to the question, earning a small sound of relief from Maggie.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been two days since the attack and while Rick was glad to have seen with his own eyes, Hershel and Michonne's return to the rest of the group barely an hour in a half after the girl had taken them off into the woods, the happiness of having them returned was somewhat short lived due to the damages to the fence, among other things.

Everyone had been spending most of their time alternating duties. They had also lost some people who had joined them in previous months due to the fact that they had felt that the prison wasn't safe anymore.

But that was to be expected since they were afraid and felt as if it were the right thing to do.

Rick and Carl had just come in from outside. They had been spending an almost _painful_ amount of time out in the near blistering heat just trying to clean up the mess that the Governor and their new friend had made. Though Rick had to be honest, the kid had done far more damage than the Governor had ever done, despite the obviousness of her good intent.

He'd never seen so much mindless destruction before in his life. And that was really saying something considering the fact that he was a father to a pre-teen boy whom absolutely _loathed_ picking up after himself.

Quickly grabbing a bottled water, Rick had given his son instructions to hydrate himself and grab something to eat before he wandered off to grab some sleep. Earning a small grin from the boy before he nodded his head and then made a beeline straight for the cafeteria as Rick, himself walked off to head to the cell where the girl was currently resting so that he could check up on how she was doing and have a few words with Hershel and Daryl about their new friend.

He'd already talked to Michonne and Carl about making the kid a part of their group. Not just because she had saved them and their home, though he would admit that that had sort of swayed his thoughts on the matter in her favor. No- he wanted her to be a part of the group because he also wanted to know more about her.

She was dangerous.

It didn't take a genius to see that much after what had happened two days ago. But there was more to it than that and he was trying to keep an open mind about everything.

Also, there was the fact that she obviously had combat experience. Though where a kid her age would have gained such knowledge, he had no clue. But the fact that she could fight made her more of an asset. Especially since she could do that shimmer/mirage thing.

Being able to use that in specific situations could cut back on his group's fatality rate. Allowing himself and the others to protect them even better.

Pausing outside of the cell, he noticed Daryl looking at the girl oddly and frowned a little bit as Hershel's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.

"You like her don't you?"

Daryl didn't say nothing for several moments before finally saying, "Can't like her. I don't know her."

"And yet you keep staring at her as if she were an ice cool drink of water dangled before a thirsty man." Hershel said with a slight hint of amusement in his voice as Daryl growled at the old man and snapped.

"I said, I don't like her!"

"Sure, sure, son. Has no one ever told you about love at first sight?"

"I don't like her," Daryl said a little more forcefully, his tone belying his agitation as he then muttered with a scowl, "I can't like her."

Rick's lips twitched ever so slightly in amusement as Hershel finally seemed to sense his presence hanging around, loitering outside of the cell, and called him in and asked, "What can we do for you today Rick?" As soon as he entered the small room.

Rick looked at the two before then looking at the girl.

She had remained unconscious these past two days, either from what Hershel figured was exhaustion or blood loss or perhaps even a little bit of both. The moment that the elder had returned to the prison with Michonne and seen that his daughters were fine, he started firing questions about the kid. And upon finding out that she was wounded and unconscious- he'd got this determined look on his face and marched off after grabbing someone and demanding that they show him where she was being kept.

Rick knew that the man was likely to take a shine to the girl, so he wasn't all that shocked by his behavior.

Michonne...was a little bit more difficult to read. On one hand, she had asked about the girl. She had even swung by the cell once Hershel had stabilized her condition to see how she was doing.

But after that, she started keeping her distance from the kid. Which Rick chalked up to her being wary of her for things like not knowing her or how she did the shimmer thingy. But then, her wariness towards the girl was neither a positive nor a negative thing.

Not really anyways.

It was merely Michonne being Michonne. She was a cautious person by nature. And Rick figured that if he made the girl a part of the group- if given a little bit of time to get to know the girl, Michonne would probably warm up to her considerably.

"I wanted to talk to the two of you about the possibility of having the kid join our group once she's healed up."

"Ya want to make her one of us?" Daryl asked curiously, a small frown marring his features.

"After what she did for us- do you really think it's right to just patch her up and make her leave?"

"No."

"Nah. But there's more to your reasoning, isn't there?"

"There is. The first reason, is that she's dangerous. Whether to us or others, she needs watching. The second reason, is I want to know more about her. Where did she come from? Who is she? How does she do that weird 'shimmer' thing that enables her to pass among people without detection? Why does she use it? Is it a form of technology? And if so- does she have more than she can give to us?"

"And then there is her sword- the damned thing is _massive_ so much so that I can't help but wonder how someone so...uh, petite manages to wield it. How does she manage to carry it on her back when it must weigh hundreds of pounds? How is she strong enough to use it so easily? She has combat experience that could be to our advantage... It could help us protect ourselves much better. Ya know, cut down on the fatality rate among our group."

"All of those are good points, however I think I may be able to shed some light on a few of those questions that you want answered," Hershel said as he reached over to the small table next to the sink and picked up what looked like an old and worn, brown leather wallet and tossed it to Rick, who absently caught the wallet in his hands as the elder then said, "From what I saw in the wallet- she has two ID's. One in, I think is Japanese. And the other is in English. I used the English one to learn her name, though I still can't really pronounce it. It also tells her birthdate and blood type. Among the other items in the wallet was a old picture of what I think may have been her family."

Rick nodded his head slowly and flipped the wallet open and quickly began to dig through it as Daryl leaned over his shoulder to see what he could of the contents.

The tiny image on the ID in Rick's hand was a younger version of the girl. Her strawberry blond-orange hair looked similar to how it did now, just shorter in the back. She was dressed in a school uniform with a white button up shirt underneath a slate grey jacket, with a red ribbon tied in a bow around the collar of her shirt.

It took Rick several tries to pronounce her name as he read the ID aloud.

"Ichigo Kur-o-sa-ki. Oh I see now. Okay, her name is Ichigo Kurosaki. She's fifteen in a half at present and will turn sixteen sometime around the end of the year. Blood type, AB positive. Height, five foot nine. Weight, one hundred and twelve pounds. Thanks Hershel, this is really helpful." Rick said with a grin.

At least now they had a name to go call her aside from 'kid' and 'girl'. It tended to get confusing for them to be asked about...Ichigo and accidentally mistake who was being asked about.

"I have one or two things to share with you that may also answer several of your questions. The first that I'm going to address is how she manages to carry and wield her sword. There are specific medical conditions that enhance muscle strength in those born with the condition. In fact many of those people are said to have herculean like strength. The sword, at first glance, if you really look hard enough- is _incredibly_ heavy. The metal itself must weigh close to four or five hundred pounds. Yet when she saved me and Michonne, I noticed that she was using one hand to swing it. Not only that, but I also noticed that there was no wasted movement when she did so."

"So you think that she could have a medical condition that enables her to carry/wield her sword?" Rick asked with a small frown.

"I believe so- yes. The only other answer is years of intense muscle training. But as you can see from just looking at her, she practically has no muscle on her." Hershel said waving his hand towards the girl.

Daryl snorted as if amused before looking at Rick and saying, "He's right. She ain't got no muscle on her."

"The only thing that I can't really explain aside from her 'shimmer' is her speed," Hershel said, drawing Rick and Daryl's attention back to him. "I mean think about it, she not only proved that she could carry/wield that big ass sword of hers. But she carried two grown adults off at a speed that is positively unheard of. She ran even faster than a cheetah. And their supposedly the fasted animals that have ever lived."

"So...she's a freak then?" Daryl said, sounding more than a little bit confused. Hershel gave the man a pointed glare, not liking that he had called the girl a freak. Especially since it wasn't a good way to start speaking about someone that they didn't know anything about.

And even if it was true that she was somewhat of a freak- well it was just plain rude to label her as such when she might do her shimmer thing and disappear again if they made her uncomfortable.

 _"You watch your language Daryl Dixon or I'll get up out of this chair and box your ears,"_ The elder snapped, causing both Daryl and Rick to look at him in surprise before he carefully tacked on, "The last thing you should do is begin labelling the gal as a freak. Especially if you want her to join our group. If you go around calling her a freak, you'll make her feel like she's one- and if that happens..."

"She'll avoid us or flat out disappear and never come back," Rick finished for him as he cast a glance towards the huntsman and then sighed and said, "Okay. Okay, we get it."

"Good. Was there anything else that you needed while you were here?"

"Nah, just...wanted to run things by the two of you is all. I'll go now. Take care Hershel, and Daryl- try not to make him box your ears." Rick said half teasingly as Daryl sputtered for a moment before growling at him and re seating himself in the same seat that he'd had before as Rick walked out of the cell.

All of them had been so absorbed in the conversation that they hadn't even realized that the girl's eerie honey gold eyes had been watching them from underneath her dark lashes as she listened in on their talk.


	5. Chapter 5

Ichigo pretended to still be asleep for several hours leading well into the night when everyone was asleep before finally deciding to get up and stretch her legs a little bit since they had decided to actually leave her alone tonight. She still felt somewhat weak upon sitting up and slowly swinging her legs over the side of the narrow cot, and her leg and side were throbbing and incredibly sore, but at least they were mending well when she decided to check them with her own eyes.

Which was more than she could say for some of her other, past wounds. Some of them _still_ ached on occasion, causing a great deal of discomfort and pain that was at times, difficult to ignore. Especially since she was always on the move and stuff.

Looking around the small-ish room she took in every inch of her surroundings before sighing and wondering what the hell to do now. She wasn't overly fond of the idea of staying at the moment. Mostly in part due to what she had heard in the conversation between the three men earlier.

She wasn't overly fond of questions- though she understood why they had them. Nor did she particularly like being referred to as a freak, even in passing.

It was rude and the last time someone had called her a freak, she had knocked four teeth out of said person's mouth. Of course, she'd been twelve at the time and her temper had had a bad habit of getting the best of her far more often than it did at present.

Carefully re wrapping the bandages around her leg, she finished tying it off and then slowly got to her feet and took a moment to wait for the sudden bought of dizziness to pass before she started walking towards the door of the room and paused when she spotted the guy with a crossbow sleeping slumped over in an somewhat uncomfortable looking position, in a chair outside of the room.

Slowly inching herself out of the room, Ichigo used her Shinigami stealth and grace to move around the man without disturbing him and squat down to check on him for a moment.

But she didn't dare to touch him, just in case she accidentally woke or disturbed him.

* * *

Daryl had awoken the moment that he had heard faint movement inside of the cell where the kid had been placed. And as much as he wanted to get up and check on her- he didn't dare move from his current position.

Not when he could see what she was up to by just sitting there and secretly observing her actions. Though if it looked as if she were going to do something bad to himself or someone else- he'd shoot her and put her out of their misery.

She was a damned near silent and little thing when she moved about.

Of course he only thought this because she startled the hell out of him when she had stepped over his long legs and then took a moment or two to squat down at his right, and stare at him for a moment or so.

Daryl had to be careful to school his features just to keep himself from frowning in confusion. She was acting as if she were...checking up on him?

But that couldn't be. Could it? He wondered to himself as she then stood back up to her full height and began to move away from him, unaware of how his eyes followed her every move.

* * *

Once she was absolutely sure that the guy was asleep, Ichigo slowly stood and then took a moment to debate with herself on whether or not she should grab a blanket and drape it over him or not.

Normally she wouldn't have cared, but she knew that winter was right around the corner and the current temperature in the prison was more than a little bit chilly. Especially since she had previously seen some of the many people living here, sleeping with more than one blanket or quilt on their beds in an effort to chase away the cold.

Upon deciding that it wasn't quite so cool out that the guy would absolutely need a blanket or something, that and the fact that he was probably a light sleeper and the feel of a blanket being wrapped around him would likely wake him- she turned and began silently walking.

She quietly peeked into every cell, checking to make sure no one was disturbed, or distressed by her slightly more than ominous presence even in their sleep.

She'd found in the time that she'd been in this place, that her spirit energy tended to leak out and disturb the rest of others because they found the feeling that it elicited frightening or even malicious despite the fact that it was _anything_ but.

But she supposed that that was somewhat normal given the nature of her spirit energy and what it was usually used for.

Upon reaching the last cell, she peeked through the door at the elder who had treated her wounds. And then stepped inside for a moment, found a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled down a quick 'thank you' for the elder and carefully set it on his bedside table and then quickly left his cell before she woke him, and moved on.

Moving at a much quicker pace now, it only took her several moments to reach the door leading outside, and pushed it open and slipped quietly out of the building. Making sure to gently close the door behind her as she went.

* * *

Daryl stayed at a decent distance form the girl as he stealthily moved in closer to observe her. From his viewpoint, she looked as if she were merely checking to make sure that everyone was asleep. However when she disappeared into Hershel's room- he couldn't help but begin to fear that perhaps she was up to no good.

That was in part why he had stopped by Ricks cell, and woken him.

Making sure to keep his hand over the man's mouth so that he wouldn't make any noise as he then backed off a little bit once the man was nice and awake and whispered, "She's on the move." Before then slipping out of the cell and quickly moving to close as much distance as he could between himself and the girl while Rick grabbed his gun and moved to join him.

They paused by Hershel's room, startling the man awake for a moment and almost giving him a heart attack without meaning to while attempting to check up on him and make sure that the kid hadn't done anything to him.

It didn't take either man long to notice the note sitting on the elder's bedside table, and realize that it was why the kid had stopped by his room while he slept.

Carefully picking up the note, all three crowded around in the semi darkness to read it.

The kid had incredibly neat hand writing. Which was good because if she'd had chicken scratch for hand writing then they never would have been able to read her note to Hershel.

 ** _Sorry- I don't really know your name. I just wanted to say thank you for treating my injuries, they are healing up much better than other's I've gotten in recent months. I'm sorry that I couldn't stay to say this to your face, nor could I really stay to answer any of your questions._**

 ** _However I have my reasons for leaving and that in part is because of my work. Whereas the rest has to do with my inability to accurately explain my differences to others._**

 ** _I have some places to go. To clear out the dead that wander in great numbers so that people like yourself and those in your group have a much better chance of surviving if you need to pass through and get supplies._**

 ** _Again- sorry that I couldn't stay. I think that there are a few in your group that I would have liked to actually meet face to face, unfortunately, it's too much of a risk._**

 ** _I will say this though, I will return periodically to check up on you all. So tell your leader, the hunter, and the rest of your friends to please not to shoot me. I get tired of digging bullets out of my flesh._**

 ** _Ichigo Kurosaki_**

"So I guess it's a safe bet to say that she's gone." Daryl said dryly as Rick huffed softly and turned his head to look out the window across from the cells and muttered,

"Yeah. But she'll be back. We'll just have to wait until then."


	6. Chapter 6

Ichigo had changed to her Shinigami form and used her flash step to leave the prison grounds, yet could only use it a total of four times before her injured leg began to give out on her. Couple that with the overwhelming sensation of dizziness that was swamping her, and she just had to stop where she was and carefully settled herself on the ground, underneath a tree and made herself as comfortable as she could.

Apparently she had overestimated her own strength just a little bit too much.

She should have stayed back at the prison, however after overhearing the conversation between the three men that had been in the room with her- she simply didn't feel that it was a good idea to remain any longer than necessary.

Sighing, she pulled her zanpakuto and stabbed it into the ground a few feet from where she was sitting, yet close enough for her to get up and grab if she really needed to, and then used it to send out several soft pulses of energy into the surrounding area around her where she could hear as well as feel the dark energy signatures of the undead and allowed the pulses of power to burn them all to ashes so that she could sleep safely.

She was so tired by getting rid of so many of them in one go, that the second that she finished, she slumped to the ground- dead to the world. And never even noticed that she had drawn the attention of a small group of people that had come to investigate why the undead that they had been fighting, had suddenly turned to ash and blown away with the wind.

"Tyrese? Did you see that?" A young woman in her late teens to early twenties asked as she turned her head to look at her older brother.

He took a moment to scan the immediate area before realizing that something odd had just happened. Walkers didn't just up and turn to ashes like that unless they were burned. He knew that from personal experience since he and his sister had found several pits of the damned things back at their former home, Woodberry, and had had to burn them before anyone had the misfortune to come through the area and fall into the pits and get torn apart.

"Yeah, yeah I saw." He finally said as he slowly lowered his hammer while his sister did the same with her knife.

"Wasn't that the same weird light from several months back?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah, yeah it is," Tyrese said before hen adding on, "That means that _she's_ somewhere nearby." Sasha nods her head in understanding and then asks if they are going to go find her. The ghost that had saved them both from being killed by a herd of the undead three months back, before they had found the prison or Woodberry.

Her brother doesn't hesitate to say that if she was around, then they would be far, far safer near her than on their own. And while she could understand his reasons for believing so- she didn't completely trust the ghost.

There was just something weird about her.

Far too weird for her to actually be a true _specter_ of any kind. For starters, she could interact with them. And then there was the fact that she could appear and disappear at random and even destroy the undead in mass numbers without breaking much of a sweat.

Tyrese had a theory that she was with the military and was working with some new tech that had been in development for a while before the outbreak started- and was now working to clean up the mess left behind.

Sasha, frankly thought that her brother was somewhat delusional.

But if there was one thing that he was at least half right about, it was the fact that they would be far safer near the specter than away from her. "Alright," She finally says after a length of time. "Did you see which way the light came from?"

"Yeah, this way." Tyrese says with a slight motion of his head as he slowly started towards a small thicket of trees. They were cautious as they walked through the dark woods, they couldn't help themselves. They'd walked through the dark woods so many times before that anyone that had traveled with them in the hopes of safety- had died horribly.

So when they proceeded to walk through the darkened woods- they tended to be a little bit jumpy.

It took them a full fifteen minutes or more, but they finally managed to find the specter. Lying on the ground, looking pale as death- sure- but they found her never the less. Tyrese was the one who made sure that she was simply unconscious, instead of dead.

Though he had suspected for some time that she wasn't actually a specter of some kind- the fact that he managed to feel warmth from her skin, the moistness of her breath as she breathed and the soft, steady thrum of a pulse simply made her that much more _real_ to him.

Sasha though, merely sees the girl as even more of a threat as her brother tells her that they'll be staying there for the night.

She wants so argue with him about the wrongness of this situation. Camping out in the open was never a good idea with the dead roaming around, waiting to devour you alive- but she keeps her mouth shut knowing that the strange girl somehow gives her brother a measure of security and comfort that he hasn't felt in a really, really long time.

And frankly she isn't such a bitch that she's willing to tear that measure of security away from him all because of her discomfort. She would just have to watch the girl, and see what happened next.

* * *

"She's been asleep a really long time, Ty, I think we should just leave without her." One voice, a woman's voice said, coaxingly. The next to speak was a male whom apparently was dead set on staying right where he was, which to Ichigo's estimate was to her immediate...left?

"Have you looked at this Sash?" The male then asked, obviously attempting to change the subject when Ichigo felt something akin to a shiver work it's way down her spine.

It wasn't exactly an unfamiliar feeling. But it wasn't really a _familiar_ one either. She simply knew it somewhat from previous encounters with people whom had gotten curious enough about her zanpakuto that they made the mistake of touching it thinking that she would never know.

"Will you stop doing that! You're going to cut your finger off on that thing." The female snapped at the male as the 'shiver' abruptly vanished as she slowly let her eyes flutter open for a moment to look around.

There were only two people there aside from herself. A man and a woman, both African American. Both were tired, hungry- from the feel of their low spirit energy they obviously hadn't eaten in days.

Inwardly sighing to herself, she supposed that she didn't oppose the company. Especially when she had run into these two before, when they had been part of a much bigger group.

Now it looked as if they were alone and somewhat on the desperate side. That was fine, she didn't really mind helping them if they really needed it. "Morning." She rasps, watching as the two damn near jump out of their skin while she slowly pushes herself upright and tries, but fails, to bite back a yawn.

"Y-You're up!"

"And you guy's are a mess." Ichigo states in a gentle tone, not meaning any offense, or trying to be rude to them. She was merely stating the truth. The woman glares at her while the guy gives a somewhat awkward laugh.

"Yeah, we are. We've had to abandon our former home again. The guy that ran the place went insane and killed a bunch of people."

"That isn't surprising. I always thought he was more than a little bit unstable." Ichigo says offhand. Watching as the two give her a peculiar look before she realizes that her mouth has sort of run away with her, revealing the fact that she had been to Woodberry at some point in time.

"You were there?" The woman asks- well, more like demands if one really listened to her tone.

"I was."

"Then why didn't you warn anyone going there about the Governor?"

"Because you would have _died_ before finding anyplace else nearby in which to stay. Besides, being there for a short time, allowed you to rest and relax and get what you needed. You couldn't get those things unless you are someplace with a ready food and water supply as well as high walls and weapons in which to defend yourselves. Besides, a short time there _was_ better than none at all."

The two were silent for several heartbeats before Ichigo then said, "You two look like you could use a good three square meals and a safe place to lay your heads."

She spoke as if she already knew a place, causing Tyrese's heart to pick up speed a little bit while Sasha simply stared at her. "T-That would be nice, but-"

"But why should we trust you?" Sasha cut in.

"If you want to live, trusting me is the only thing that you can do. Now if you don't mind waiting here for a little bit, I'm going to go and get you two some food and water. You'll be needing it until we reach a settlement."

"Again why should we trust you?"

"And again, I'm going to ignore your rude question when it's obvious to me that you both need all the help that you can get." Ichigo said in a hard tone as she glared at Sasha while slowly climbing to her feet and took a moment to silently take stock of how her injuries were.

Upon finding that while they may be aching and sore, they were nothing like last night, she smiled a little bit to herself and then said- "I'll leave the sword, but you shouldn't have any need of it for a while. There are no undead for miles. I'll go hunt and bring everything back. I should be back within the hour." And before either of them could argue with her, she vanished from their sight.


	7. Chapter 7

Ichigo remained true to her word and came back about an hour later toting three large, heavy duffle bags stuffed full of bottled water's soda's, granola bars, some canned goods, oranges, pears, apples, grapes, eggs, some sandwich meats and bread and a few other things that should last them a few days. Including cooking utensils, pots, pans, and other dishes such as hard plastic plates, some forks, knives, spoons ect.

Tyrese and Sasha took one look at her as she stepped into camp, and blinked.

"Holy-" Tyrese started to say before shaking his head and walking over to help her with the duffles. "Here, those look heavy." He said as he carefully took them from her grasp and then once she was down to one bag, reached out and gently took her by the upper arm and maneuvered her over towards the tree that she had slept under last night and helped her sit down, and lean her back against the tree as he set the bags down and watched almost anxiously as Sasha began going through them.

"Ty! We have canned food, non canned food, meats, eggs, water, sodas, even stuff to cook and eat with!" Sasha said excitedly as she reached into one of the bags and pulled out some stuff to show him. To say that the siblings were impressed by the kid's haul would be an understatement.

They hadn't been aware that anyone could leave their camp and still walk back to it with such a haul. To their knowledge there weren't all that many places that were still intact once the epidemic hit.

There had been mass hysteria, panic, rioting in the streets all while the store shelves had been wiped out or all of their goods.

Water, canned foods, bread, toilet paper- those had been the first things to go right along with the hygiene items and medicines. And yet...

Yet somehow this kid had managed to not only bring them enough food and water to last them a little while, but had also brought them plates, pots, pans, and silverware in which to cut things up, and eat with.

Now the first question that would generally be asked, would be along the lines of how? How had she managed to do it? Where did she find the stuff?

Where had she found food- that was still good for that matter- and managed to carry it all to their camp with her leg injury?

However- instead of asking questions first, Tyrese and Sasha merely began digging in. The hunger and thirst from the past few days of going without, gnawing at them both with an intensity that was almost maddening.

Tyrese was on his third sandwich, and his fifth water while Sasha was on her second of each before the two even seemed to realize that the kid was merely sitting there quietly watching them.

Embarrassed by their temporary lack of manners, both flushed a little bit and wiped at their mouths as the kid stared at them for several heartbeats with a bemused expression on her pretty face before she then reached out slowly and grabbed an orange and some grapes- wincing ever so slightly as she moved, and then dragged them over to her side and started eating them.

Obviously not one to stand much on ceremony, and as such didn't expect the two of them to stand much on ceremony either. Which they could both understand. However the fact that the kid had winced and showed even a moment of discomfort had warning bells going in their minds.

Wiping the back of his mouth again, Tyrese carefully set his water aside and shared a brief glance with his sister before finally asking, "Not that we aren't grateful or anything kid...but we do have questions. Stuff like-"

"How did you manage to find all of this stuff? I mean it isn't rotten or decaying. It's all still perfectly good." Sasha said sort of cutting her brother off a little bit, causing him to look at her for a moment as she shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "What? Those are questions right?"

"Yeah stuff along those lines. And as interesting as that is- it isn't all I want to know. You looked like your were in pain a second ago. You hurt?"

"I think what my brother is wondering is, were you bit?" Sasha cut in again in a much ruder manner as Ichigo popped what was left of her orange in her mouth and slowly chewed it with a thoughtful expression on her face.

She knew damned well what happened with others when they were bit. So she understood perfectly where the two were coming from.

They were survivors in a world over run by the undead. Undead that had a tendency to feast on the flesh of those with warm bodies, pulsing hearts- and fresh blood. Anyone in their right mind _would_ be wary of anyone injured.

So in truth she couldn't fault them for anything currently going through their minds.

In all honesty the first time that she had gotten herself bitten, the undead had looked almost as surprised as she did. If that were even possible. The thing had then promptly spat out her flesh and ambled away- or rather it had tried too. It didn't get far before she had appeared behind it and ripped it's spine out, swearing a blue streak and then some the whole time.

The wound had truly hurt like a motherfucker for quite a while. Several weeks in fact.

After that she had only gotten bitten several more times, and that was only when she was attempting to save someone else and knew that sacrificing her flesh was the only way to do so. Which thankfully, those times were few and far between.

Sensing more than seeing the hand suddenly waving in front of her face, she snatched the wrist that it was attached too and must have startled the guy and his friend pretty badly since they both had their weapons drawn and had jumped damned near a foot into the air when she had moved.

"Sorry, I was thinking and you were distracting me," She said as she slowly released her hold on the man's wrist before finally replying to their questions. "I have been injured, but I was shot during the scuffle with the Governor and his people while protecting the ones inside of the prison. I've been moving about this area and several others since I wound up alone."

"I'm not going to lie- it's been quite a while since I've had any chance to interact with anyone who didn't want to use me in some way or flat out kill me. So your company is appreciated. As for the food- I know more about basic survival skills than most highly trained military forces. Finding decent quality foods, hunting down animals for their meat, preserving and storing everything away is simply common sense to me."

"O-Oh. Uh...okay then." Sasha said before Tyrese asked,

"Will you're injury be okay?"

"Yeah." Ichigo said as she shifted ever so slightly to make herself more comfortable when Sasha started to say.

"Okay so those questions are out of the way..."

"Just a few more-" Tyrese assured her before asking curiously.

"First off, what was that weird blue light that flooded the area last night?"

Ichigo's amber eyes flickered towards his face for a moment before she said, _"That's classified information."_

"Then why haven't any walkers in the area come near us? We're making noise. And they must have smelled us by now-" Tyrese said as he looked at her almost pleadingly. His need for information- to know that he and his sister were safe with her, paramount in his mind.

So Ichigo gave them both a little something to think on. "Sorry. But that's classified information too. Though I will say this," Ichigo said as she motioned towards her sword. "That thing, is a _very_ special military weapon that only a handful of very _specific_ people can use. Each one is shaped to suit the user's needs and desires. Part of what happened last night was much like...a specialized targeting device."

"The light that you probably saw specifically targeted the undead and wiped them out of the immediate area. It also threw up something like a high frequency barrier to hold them at bay. In layman's terms, even if they wanted to come here- they can neither occupy the same space, nor get even remotely close to it while I and my sword are occupying the same area."

"W-What-" Sasha choked out, her eyes going to the blade imbedded in the ground several feet away as her brother asked in an disbelieving tone.

"So that thing is basically like a biter-be-gone?"

"Yes and no. It's more than a little hard to really explain how it works. Mainly because everything about it and myself is pretty much incredibly classified. But the weapon won't work without being in my immediate presence unless I will it. So as long as you both don't do anything dumb like try to take off with it- or kill me, you're both safe with me." Ichigo said with a small grin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Yo- sorry for the late update, I've been down off and on with a fever and some other stuff (like having one of my babies put to sleep) and now I'm down to 4 instead of just 7 due to the loss of some others. And I just wanted to pop in for those who have been reading to say thanks for the patience and I haven't forgotten this fic nor my other.**

* * *

Rukia Kuchiki huffed as she cleaned the blood and decaying flesh from her blade with a quick flick of her wrist before she resheathed her zanpakuto as she glared down at the mess of withered and dead remains that had just attacked her as her group finished cleaning up their individual messes and then slowly ambled over to her.

"Well, that was..." One of her companions started to say when he was cut off by her older brother stating the obvious with a scowl on his face.

"Disgusting."

"Well, I myself was going to comment on how revolting this particular assignment has become, but sure, let's go with your assessment." The first speaker said in obvious irritation as a large shadow fell over Rukia, suddenly pulling her from her silent musings so that she could tip her head back and see who or what was blocking out the light. Just in case it happened to be one of those things that so closely resembled walking, snarling human remains, and had her wide violet eyes meet the fierce, yet gentle gaze of one of the other two people that were not only friends with her and Ichigo, but wholly human as well.

"Chad."

"Are you alright Rukia?" The giant asked quietly as his gaze did a quick once over. Checking her for any injuries that they might lose her to as they had already lost three of their former companions since coming here.

She smiled at him and quickly waved him off as if to show that she were fine, when she was honestly beginning to doubt that they would find Ichigo alive.

They had been in this strange place for almost two months now, and though if she and the other soul reapers in their group really tried, they could feel Ichigo's spirit energy _everywhere_. It was almost as if she had decided to blanket whole entire area's that she passed through with the excess energy to the point where those... _zombies_? Didn't dare come near the areas filled with her power- almost as if they were the ones that feared that they would suffer some horrifying monster that was lying in wait to devour them.

Rukia wasn't going to lie- even if they found Ichigo at this point- alive and well, there was something dark and twisted beginning to appear in her power that could be felt for miles and miles and miles around. And it felt so familiarly disturbing that she had practically wet herself the first time that she had sensed it.

Urahara had theorized before he and Yoruichi had split from the group, that Ichigo's power from her inner hollow and quincy abilities were combining and blending with her soul reaper powers- so what she felt was Ichigo's power adapting to it's new environment.

Literally placing Ichigo at the top of the food chain.

He had even gone on to explain that what she had felt when she had tried to sense her was probably what a rabbit felt when it was being hunted by a wolf.

And of course the fact that Ichigo had done this in repeated sessession in every direction imaginable only meant that tracking her would be damned near impossible if they were going to try tracking her simply by energy alone.

 _The damned idiot._

Rukia had lost count of how many times a day she reminded herself that the second that they found Ichigo she was going to beat the shit out of her for being so damned stupid. Of course it didn't really help much that their supplies had long run out, and the soul reapers had to constantly stay in their human forms just to keep from losing anymore of their strength.

After all, running around during a zombie apocalypse was draining on them as spirit beings. But since Ichigo was essentially human at her core- it was believed that she wouldn't lose her power or strength quite so easily.

"I'm fine Chad. Are you?"

"Hungry. Not much else though." The giant muttered, reminding them all that they would have to try once again to find something- anything to eat soon. Ever since their supplies had run out, they had been foraging like mad.

Of course Renji had his collection of acorns to munch on that he guarded as if they were made of solid gold, but the rest of them needed a bit more than that. As it was, Rukia's brother had been attempting to sustain her and Chad using his spirit energy. Which was dangerous even in less stressful and dangerous situations. And if he continued to spread himself too thin without having an opportunity to replenish what he had lost thus far...

She looked towards him, noting the way his face looked more hallowed and sickly than it had several days prior. If he continued to try and sustain her and Chad's lives and energies in lieu of letting food do the job for him, using his own energy, he was going to die.

Catching her stare for a moment, her brother simply waited for her to say something. And when she didn't, he merely said, "Come. We still have much ground to cover before we settle in for the night." And slowly began walking away from them as if he no longer cared if any of them followd him or not.

* * *

Several days had passed since the kid Ichigo had left the prison and while there had been no real incidents among the group, food was becoming scarce again. As it was Rick, Maggie, Glen and Michonne were all going to head out in separate directions, towards local towns to see if they could find anything of use.

Which left Carol to watch over the group and Carl since Daryl had set out the day before to hunt and see if he could find some deer. Though everyone doubted that he'd manage to find any with the area so littered with walkers just ready to rip them apart.

"Do you think Daryl will come back with something decent?" Carl asked his dad curiously as he watched the walkers roaming around the outside of the fence. He felt his dad place his hand on his head and ruffle his hair before replying,

"Not before we head out he won't."

Carl sighed as Hershel came up to join their little group and said, "Kinda makes you wish that kid hadn't run off, huh? Especially since her abilities would have made scavenging less dangerous."

Rick sighed and looked at the elder who stared him down for a moment or two. It had been no secret that Hershel had been a tad bit upset with him for chasing the kid off. As much as part of him understood that the kid would have been of great use to the group, the more paternal part of him also recognized Ichigo as another kid in need of a home.

He'd all but thrown a hissy fit that had cleared the cell block that they call home the morning he had found out that Ichigo had run off while injured in the middle of the night.

"Hershel for the last time, if we find her and she's still okay, we'll drag her back. _Kicking_ and _screaming_ if we have to." Rick said, finally losing what patience he had with the elder.

"See that you do. I'm worried about how she may be treating her injury in such unsanitary conditions." Hershel said with a sniff before moseying over to Maggie and Glen and hugging them both goodbye, just in case. Not ten minutes later, they were leaving the prison in a couple of beat up cars that they had found, unaware of the eerie gold eyes watching them from a tree limb overhead.


	9. Chapter 9

"Do you need any help changing the bandage on your leg?" Tyrese asked cautiously as he approached where Ichigo sat with the open First Aid kit and some of the items strewn about her trying to decide if she should start on some antibiotics or not since her leg wound was beginning to show signs of being infected.

She knew that she probably should but...with Tyrese and Sasha in her little group she couldn't help but weigh the pro's and con's almost constantly since she had noticed the darkening around the small wound that was beginning to branch off some.

It wasn't so terrible now that she would start running a high fever and getting sick, and she knew of some alternative methods to treat it. But antibiotics would be faster. And help her heal a lot better too.

Blinking as Tyrese asked her the same question again before kneeling down next to her to see what had her so zoned out, he took one look at her leg and became immediately concerned. Partially because she had been taking care of him and his sister, and partially because she was injured and never let either of them help her when she needed it. And partially because she and her sword also had a detrimental effect to his and Sasha's well being.

Without either of them...he and Sasha would be food for those things in no time. And they all knew it.

Finally lifting her amber eyes to his face, Ichigo made a soft humming sound as she looked at him before responding, "Sorry. I was thinking of how much we may need the meds later and trying to come up with another way to-"

He caught on quick, that was for damned sure. Ichigo thought as she bit back a small smile of amusement as he asked, "Is there another way?"

"Yeah. I need to cut away the dead flesh and reopen the wound and let it bleed some. After that I can put some meds on it and re wrap it so if you want, you and Sasha can go ahead and get started on camp. It's around four or so in the evening right now- and we've come a decent distance from our last camp."

"You should use the meds." Tyrese said, worried about how sick she could become if she didn't. She would then not only become a burden to him and his sister, but they may wind up having to leave her behind and move on. And frankly he didn't want to leave the kid behind.

She seemed like a decent sort. Thoughtful, quiet, considerate of their needs above her own.

One didn't run across someone like her often.

Ichigo merely shook her head at the idea and gave him a reassuring smile before saying, "Don't worry so much. Everything will be fine." As she started to use a small but incredibly sharp pocket knife and began the _painful_ task of doing as she said she would. Cringing inwardly with every scrap of the blade against her thigh.

Finally once she was finished trimming away the blackened flesh and cutting the wound, once in the middle and several times around the outside so that it could drain of any puss and infected blood, she then grabbed a syringe and a clear bottle of something and cast a grim look towards Tyrese before saying, "This is going to probably hurt more than the actual bullet that I was shot with."

"You think you may scream?"

"It _is_ a possibility. Do me a solid and come over here and hold me around the torso. I don't need to begin jerking and shit while I'm messing with a needle. The last thing I need is to accidentally put an air bubble in my artery or something."

He paled a little bit at the thought and quickly moved to do as she bid, crawling behind her and then carefully shifting his hold on her so that she was practically pinned against his front and called Sasha over to help them. Ichigo said nothing as he quickly explained what he was doing and then fell silent so that she could explain to Sasha what she needed to do.

Ichigo's instructions for the use of the needle were very graphic and thorough. And both siblings would be lying if they said they weren't feeling a little bit nauseous once she was finished. Still both did as Ichigo told them to, and then once the deed was done, Tyrese carefully laid a pale, and twitching and panting Ichigo out on her back on the ground so that she could rest while Tyrese re did the bandage on her leg as Sasha staggered off several feet away to vomit.

Ichigo winced several times as she heard the sounds of whimpering and coughing coming from Sasha as she wretched and felt a twinge of sympathy for the older girl and then shifted her attention to Tyrese as he finally finished re wrapping and tying off her bandage.

"You should check on her." Ichigo said as Tyrese sat back for a moment and studied his handy work for a moment before acknowledging her words.

"Planned on it kid, you just sit here and rest a bit while we set up camp for the night."

"Thanks, and sorry about the gross stuff poor Sasha had to do."

"It's no problem kid. After all, you've been taking care of us. It's only fair that we take care of you when you need it."

Ichigo snorted out a small laugh as she said, "The only people that ever took care of me are long gone."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened? I mean you practically know mine and Sasha's story. But we don't know yours."

"Oh right, I guess that is kind of a need to know thing. Alright but just to be clear- I'm going to give you the watered down version and there are just some things that I can't tell you."

"Let me guess, classified information, right?" Ty asked with a small smile. Ichigo nodded her head slowly and told him that she would tell him what he wanted to know once Sasha was checked on and re joined them.


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm not sure how to explain Ichigo's background here. So just roll with it, okay?**

* * *

"Alright so… I'm not actually sure where to start my explanation," Ichigo said as she looked from Tyrese to Sasha for a moment before simply deciding to plow on. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm fifteen in a half years old. My family consisted of a dad and two younger twin sisters. My mom died because of me in a wrong-place-wrong-time sort of thing when I was barely nine years old. Uh... And I guess you could say this is where things start to get classified." Ichigo said as she reached up to awkwardly rub at the back of her head.

"I excel at things such as street brawling, boxing, and karate. And when I was still fourteen- I sort of had to join an unknown military special ops unit to save a friend of mine from being executed for being in possession of a strange- _'alien-like'_ artifact that a mad scientist wanted to steal for political reasons."

"I had little to no formal training before I and several others on my team were practically thrown to the wolves knowing barely the basics of fighting. We fought our way through thirteen teams of...well, also special ops units- got beaten up pretty badly- but in the end we managed to save our friend before she could be killed."

"After that, she went home again. But she often comes back, checks in and sometimes even stays with me and my family along with some of the others that I fought against to save her. After all of the fighting was done, they gave me a badge indicating that I would now both be recognized and wield the same power and authority of their own higher ups in recognition of my ability. I now wield the same ability as commanders and generals which I hear is pretty damn impressive for someone my age."

Tyrese damn near had a stroke upon hearing this. Sasha didn't seem to be doing much better given her shocked/dumbfounded expression.

"While doing some of my training some of the higher ups that I was working under noticed that I was different from everyone else in an... _fundamental_ way. You see- for as long as I can remember... I've seen the souls of the dead." The two made strained, chocking sounds before Tyrese then asked,

"Y-You see dead people? L-Like a psychic or something?"

"It has been proven that I possess several forms of psychic phenomenon, yes. However my theory is that because my family comes from a long line of doctors that protect the living, the dead often seek the same from us. My dad can't sense or see them. But me and my little sisters can."

There was a heart beat or two of absolute silence from the two before Sasha started to ask, while making a weird hand motion. "C-Can you show-"

"I'm not a dog. I don't do tricks." Ichigo said gently yet firmly despite the irritation that she felt welling up. Sasha flinched as if she had just been slapped as Tyrese quickly said,

"Whoa, w-we didn't mean-"

"To offend? I'm aware. I'm also aware that you're curious. And you can't help it. This is uncharted territory for you. I often feel the same way when watching normal people." Ichigo said with a bemused look on her face before then deciding to point out.

"You know how they won't come and get too close. It isn't completely because of the sword. I just tell people that just in case they decide to try and take it and run. Self preservation and all that... The truth of the matter is despite being dead- the souls of those things are still lingering here."

Ichigo blinked her amber eyes and Tyrese and Sasha noted that when she opened them again they were a glittering, glowing gold color as she then went on to say, "They linger and cry out for peace and their cries fall on deaf ears. So they wait. Bound to rotting flesh that insatiably hungers. Always in pain. Always longing for the freedom that was promised to them upon their demise in this world. I think deep down even those pitiful souls know what I am. And what I can do. And that is why they choose to stay away. It's...like a warped sort of self preservation instinct. Despite wanting their freedom. And wanting to pass on- the flesh that their bound too works against them."

Tyrese and Sasha both sat back on their heels and tried to wrap their minds around what they had just been told. On one hand, they didn't exactly want to believe Ichigo's claims. And on the other hand- she had already displayed several skills necessary to survival that they themselves simply didn't possess.

Being able to walk among the dead and not be attacked by them sort of worked in her favor too as far as her claim to be something... _fundamentally different_ went. After all, it wasn't like they could pull off the same thing without being ripped apart.

Finally Tyrese managed to ask, "Psychic phenomenon, you said that you have several kinds. As in more than just seeing dead people's souls. What other kinds do you possess?"

"Materialzation. For the sake of all argument, my sword is normally a non physical thing. But with materialzation and enough energy- I can make it as solid as we are. Astral projection. Which is excellent for getting the lay of the land and mapping things out in every direction. It can also be used for gathering intel on enemies. There is something that roughly translated, means- flash step. It's a weird form of what I think is teleportation. Or something close to it at least."

"I can be in one place one moment, and fifty miles away in another. It does take a lot of energy and stamina though. And so far the most distance I've ever used it for is one thousand and three hundred miles. I can also sort of hover or fly if I get up high enough off of the ground. And I can also do things similar to...uh...well, I'm not completely sure how to explain the last one- and since it's great for defensive purposes- let's just save it for later okay."

"T-That's a lot of...uh.. _.talents_."

"Yes, but like all gifts they come with a steep price," Ichigo said sagely before going on to say, "Usually someone who is known to have such phenomenon only has one or two latent abilities. As long as they remain under developed and unrefined- people generally aren't aware that they even have it. And live quite normally. Whereas those who do have it and know about it, tend to use it in different ways. However each ability is extremely taxing on the mind and body and can often manifest as physical ailments. So much so that depending on how often the ability is used- it can shave years off of the user's natural lifespan. I myself use my abilities so frequently that I would be lucky to make it to my mid twenties to early thirties before my body finally gives out."


	11. Chapter 11

Yuroichi was no stranger to Ichigo and her ability to somehow become the center of all things trouble. After all the kid was nothing _but_ a trouble magnet.

So naturally upon hearing that Ichigo had gone missing by accidentally being knocked through some weird 'gateway' during a routine investigation she and several of Ichigo's closest friends, and even some of the soul reapers that had come to care for and respect the kid- had gathers to plan out a way to rescue the girl from... _whatever_ trouble she had found herself in this time.

The only problem was- upon reaching the place where Ichigo had vanished, and slipping through the gateway, they had all quickly come to learn just how _bad_ things in the world where their friend had become lost.

The world that they were in now- was dying. _Literally_ in more ways than one.

There were no soul reapers in this strange new world, nothing to help maintain the balance of life and death. Which had caused so much irreparable harm to the world once the dead had begun to rise that there was now no damned way to stop it.

And to make matters even worse, what few people were still alive in this dying world- didn't have the senses, nor the instinct nor even the spirit energy to adequately defend themselves against the hoards of the undead.

Which was somewhat more problematic than average given Ichigo's natural instinct for protecting people whom couldn't protect themselves. Something that she wasn't looking forward to trying to explain to any of the others who already grew tired of the long search for their friend and wished to return home.

Especially when she knew that no matter how much they wished to return to their own world- no one would dare to leave Ichigo behind in a place like this.

It wasn't just loyalty and respect that drove them all, though they all felt they had a healthy dose of each of those when it came to the substitute Shinigami.

No- their reasons for not leaving her ran much deeper than that.

Ichigo in the short time that she had had access to her abilities had made herself damned _valuable_ to them all. So much so that not long before her disappearance Yuroichi and some of the others that knew her were called before the thirteen guard squads and told that the girl was a viable replacement for the Captain-Commander.

Or she would be rather, when he finally decided to step down in a few more years.

And those who knew this were hell bent on grabbing her and dragging her back home regardless of her wishes because she would be _needed_ again in the near future.

Though if she knew the kid any, she was going to take one look around the dying world and decide to stick around and help whomever she could.

Which meant that dragging her home would be nigh on impossible until she felt that she had done enough.

And as much as she worried about all of these things- there were other things to worry about at the moment. Ichigo's trail had gone cold not too long before her arrival at what looked like a prison.

And that wasn't good.

However upon hearing a few snippets of conversation from some of the people living just beyond the far fence of the prison, she decided- that if these people had come into contact with Ichigo, then it was very likely that she would be returning sometime soon to help them with food and other things.

Which meant that she would need to integrate herself into the group and keep them alive until Ichigo came back. After that, she would simply follow the kid's lead and hope for the best.

Deciding on which way she wanted to integrate herself in with the others was somewhat troublesome. On one hand, she would be able to slip past their defenses pretty easily in her cat form. However there wasn't much that she could do for them as far as fighting, protecting and defending went. At least not without cluing them in that she wasn't exactly a _normal_ cat anyways.

However as a human...she'd be able to communicate with them without shocking them to the point where they decide to attempt to kill her. Not to mention that she'd be able to help them out more in her human form.

Scanning the area before her she figured that she could slip past the fences and the undead in her cat form and then slowly make her way through the labyrinth-like halls of the prison until she reached where they were camping out, and then she would introduce herself.

Shifting as she stepped off of the tree branch that she had been standing on, she let herself freefall towards the ground as her body contorted and shifted. The bones popping and breaking only to heal and reshape themselves as she grew thick inky black fur.

Landing deftly on her feet at the base of the tree where she'd been mere seconds ago, she bristled her fur slightly, twitched her ears twice and then flipped her tail up in a cheeky manner and trotted off towards the prison.

* * *

"Here we are!" Ichigo chirped cheerily to her two companions as she set her zanbaktu, tip first on the pavement as she stared at the protective high walls before her. She had come across this place early on during her wandering after saving a small group of people that lived there.

And while she herself, on occasion stopped by with supplies and new blood to be taken in, and had even been invited to stay and live there- she had never really gave the offer to stay and make a place for herself there any serious thought. Though she knew that inevitably she would probably have to think some on it.

Since she couldn't go home, it was really for the best. And it wasn't like she hadn't hung around the place long enough to get a feel for the people sheltered beyond the walls.

She had. It was simply the best way to gather intel, and she knew that.

She had a sneaky suspicion that the leader of the place knew that too. Though the woman had never called her on her shit. If she had, Ichigo was pretty sure that she might have made an idiot of herself trying to explain her actions. So the fact that the woman hadn't seemed bothered by her staking them out, was...well, nice.

It gave her a better feel for the people and how they lived. Which would come in handy later on when she finally decided on what she was going to do long term.

"What is this place?" Ty asked curiously as he eyed the gate in front of them as Ichigo turned to him and his sister and gave them both a huge grin as she said,

"Alexandria, I guess you could say that it's my home away from home."

Ty only made an 'oh' sound as Tasha stood silently at her brother's side as the kid walked forward and called out, "Hello at the gate!" There were some muffled sounds coming form the other side of the gate seconds before it was cracked open and someone on the other side peeked out at them before hollering as loud as they could.

"It's the kid! The kid's back! Go get Deanna!"


	12. Chapter 12

**It's my birthday today!**

* * *

Five days before Ichigo's arrival at Alexandria-

Rukia was trying hard not to panic, but it was difficult when her brother had finally collapsed from feeding herself and Chad both his spirit energy. He was currently in a comatose state and barely clinging to life, being carried by Chad as they traveled as fast as they could ahead of the large herd that had spotted them about a mile or so back.

However Chad was tiring. And he wasn't the only one that was exhausted.

Rukia's spirit energy was practically running on fumes from the proper lack of food and rest needed to recover. Because of this fact, she had found herself in her gigai form several times against her will and had had to force herself back into her soul reaper form just to keep from collapsing.

She was so tired now that her whole body felt alarmingly heavy and her senses were going haywire on her. She was having difficulty not tripping over her own feet, and Chad- sadly wasn't doing any better than she was. Though something told her that he was suffering considerably more than her at the moment.

His human body was likely on the brink of starvation, only being maintained by what was left of her brother's spirit energy that was still bouncing around his cells. Couple that with his size, the extremely warm and humid weather and the fact that his breathing sounding strange to her- almost as if he were beginning to get sick- and she knew that it was only a matter of time before the two of them fell prey to the undead.

"Rukia…" Chad wheezed out as he finally stumbled and fell to his knees on the ground, causing her to come to an quick and painful stop as she looked back at him in fear. "I-I c-can't go on... I-It hurts to breathe." He said as her brother slipped from his grasp and fell limp and lifeless like a rag doll to the ground.

"No, no, no! Chad come on- you have to get up! Ichigo would never forgive me if you died here!" Rukia cried as she stumbled back towards him and slipped a slender arm underneath one of his own and tried to pull him up. Using what little bit of strength she had left in her body to try and save him as the herd got closer and closer to their location.

The growling and snarling coupled with the near constant opening and closing of teeth filled decayed jaws sent a chill of horror through her as Chad refused to move from where he had fallen. The heaviness of his thickly muscled arm in her grasp causing her to stumble and almost fall herself as tears began to slip down her face unchecked.

"Ichigo? Ichigo would be mad if I died?" Chad asked almost deliriously as he tried to think. But it was difficult to do with all the noise around them coupled with the insane heat and the exhaustion. Dammit he didn't feel well... Why was this girl bothering him again?

The undead were closer now. So close that Rukia doubted that even she would manage to get very far if she just up and ran now. So instead she simply dropped to her knees next to Chad and her brother and took both of their hands in her own and sobbed out a small prayer for forgiveness.

Hoping against hope that Ichigo would one day forgive her for allowing herself, her brother and Chad and so many others to come here to find her.

She must have blacked out the moment that one of the dead grabbed her- all she recalled was twisting her head around to stare into dull, lifeless gold eyes and hungry, snapping jaws before everything went black.

Rukia wasn't aware of anything after that.

Not herself, not Chad, nor even her brother. For all she knew the three of them had been savagely ripped to pieces and were either already dead or drowning in their own blood as they were slowly eaten alive.

She never heard the shouts of alarm, or the popping sound of bullets tearing through dead flesh.

* * *

When Rukia next opened her eyes, she half expected to find herself in hell or something. Instead she found herself staring in confusion at an off cream colored ceiling for several moments as she tried to make sense of where she was. Her mind slowly going over various pieces of information such as the fact that she was in her human form again. The various aches and pains in her joints, the bruises marring her skin.

She felt...oddly clean and refreshed considering how long she had been without a proper bath or rest. There was the strangely nostalgic scent of alcohol and flowers, clean sheets and...she wouldn't swear to it but there was a weird twinge of discomfort in crook of one of her elbows that seemed vaguely familiar too.

Her mouth was dry, and her tongue felt as if it were made of cotton as she tried to make a sound of some sort. Maybe ask a question?

And then the fear and the panic hit her. Her heart began to beat so fast that something like an alarm began to go off somewhere in the vicinity of where she lay. And she didn't know how to make it stop, stop, stop, _STOP_!

There must have been someone nearby, because one moment the alarm was going off and she was having trouble just trying to breathe and the next a woman entered her line of vision and placed something over her nose and mouth, causing her to react almost violently.

Rukia felt her hands come up and curled her fingers into claws and scratched at the woman's face as she screamed. Taken aback by her reaction, the woman quickly moved away from her line of vision, but didn't back off completely. Instead she muttered something that sounded like a curse and grabbed both of Rukia's hands and began to wrest them down to her sides where she tied them to the thing that she was lying on as she yelled.

"Jesus, kid- Calm down!"

Rukia heard her, but her mind couldn't seem to make sense of the jumbled mess of information in her head. She was scared, she was scared, **_SHE WAS SCARED_**!

And then she heard something familiar. A voice that she recognized as someone that she knew. A friend. A dear friend. He seemed to appear out of nowhere as if by magic, allowing Rukia to see him.

The part of her brain that recognized him, supplied the name of this friend. _Chad._ Her mind whispered almost in hysterical glee. _His name was Chad._

He was Ichigo's friend. Her friend.

She heard him say something in a very soft and gentle tone to her as he used one hand to push her long dark bangs from her face in a soothing manner and felt the tension in her body slowly begin to relax as her eyes rolled back in her head and she slipped back into the welcome embrace of unconsciousness for the second time.


	13. Chapter 13

**Happy belated Christmas everyone!**

 **I wrote this instead of sleeping so I don't know if it makes any sense.**

* * *

Alexandria- the day of arrival-

Deanna was out walking around Alexandria and talking to some of the people when she heard the guards at the gate yelling and suddenly pulled away from the elderly man that she had been visiting with to go and see what the ruckus was about. Jogging up to the gate from almost a block away was a task. And she wasn't exactly physically fit due to her age and such. But she managed to get there fairly quickly enough to hear, "The kid! It's the kid! She's back!"

And felt herself instantly calm at the mention of the little warrior's return.

The guys guarding the gate to their community had already begun to open the door for the girl, thank god. Deanna thought as she finally reached them and did her best not to flop down onto the ground just to catch her breath. After the merciless teasing that she'd received from the girl the last time she'd done that, she was more than a little bit determined not to collapse.

If only to save herself from some more teasing and possible public humiliation since the girl would wind up giving her another piggy back ride back to her home. The kid had such a deceptively easy going manner about her that sometimes irked Deanna endlessly when she teased her while she totted her around like a sack of potato's.

The moment that the gate was open, Deanna straightened her spine as much as she could and stared at the teen and her...companions?

"Hey D," The teen greeted as she took a moment to allow the black clothing and the weapon that she always carried around to vanish so that she was unarmed- as according to Deanna's rules and walked forward. "Looking winded again." The girl said as she walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.

Deanna smiled despite the small comment that she _would_ be retaliating for later, and hugged her back.

"Hello, little warrior. It's good to have you back with us again."

"It's good to be back." The girl said in a friendly manner. It wasn't exactly unusual for her to be friendly with people. Really it wasn't. But the teen wasn't usually so affectionate with people. Even one's that she had known for a while. So Deanna wondered if she felt something was just a little bit... _off_.

Maybe she felt the presence of the three newcomers and was simply curious? After all, it wouldn't be the first time that the kid had felt something off around their community and did something a tad bit out of character.

And Deanna had learned after the first few times such a thing occurred to pick up on the girl's ques since they normally spoke volumes as to what was wrong. But right now she looked and felt relaxed in her grasp. So maybe it was simply curiosity.

Still, as stupid as it sounded, asking was the best way to confirm or negate any anxiousness that had begun to well up within her. "Is everything okay?"

The teen hummed and stepped back a little bit more and closed her eyes for a moment, probably because she didn't want anyone to see or notice the subtle change in her normally warm amber eyes as they changed to gold. Deanna would admit to feeling something akin to terror, herself the first time that it had happened around her.

After that, she'd tip toed around the girl and rudely demanded answers that she simply hadn't felt comfortable giving to a stranger. Yet the teen had been oddly _understanding_ about how scared Deanna had felt after that, and usually went out of her way to hide the subtle shift in her being so as not to frighten her again.

Which was something that Deanna both appreciated and felt strangely guilty about since she got the odd feeling that she couldn't exactly help it. The little warrior had at least explained some of the reason why the shift happened.

Which had gone a long way towards alleviating some Deanna's fears and concerns about it.

Finally she opened her eyes again and looked at the woman as she said, "You've made some interesting new friends, D." Ah, so she had been sensing them. Deanna thought to herself wryly.

"Yup. Some of our people found them the other day." She confirmed with a slight nod.

"One of them feels incredibly weak."

"The doc said that one of them was dying. We've been making plans to handle him once he passes."

"There's no need to do that," The girl said, her expression was an peculiar mixture of concern and...something oddly possessive. "I can help him." She said after a moment or so of silence.

"W-What?" Deanna asked curiously since she wasn't exactly sure what the teen meant. Sure she'd seen her do a lot of interesting things since they'd first met, and yeah, she had abilities that no normal person had. And usually she didn't tend to speak of them unless she really needed too. So to hear her say that she could save a total stranger that was on the verge of organ failure and particularly agonizing and messy death was just a little bit...random.

"I can save him." The girl said again, her tone was both firm and fierce. And it gave Deanna the impression that she would do what she wanted regardless of what the woman thought or felt about the manner.

If Deanna tried to say no, the girl would likely vanish and simply do what she pleased behind her back regardless of the possible risks involved. But on the other hand, she couldn't simply just say yes either.

No matter how gifted the girl was, she had mentioned suffering a backlash from using her abilities too much. And to be perfectly honest, the thought of her turning into...one of those dead- thingy's _terrified_ her far more than the girl's possible wrath at being told 'no'.

Especially since she knew enough about her to know that the kid wasn't an malicious or cruel person who would risk innocent lives regardless of how pissed she got about something.

"Kid, I'm not sure that's-"

"Deanna," The teen aid her name firmly in a tone that made the older woman snap her mouth shut. It was the type of tone that she had heard from military personnel on a regular basis before the world had gone to hell. "I'm not asking. Even if you say no- I'll still do it. It's best to simply give in this time. The person that you're wanting me to let die is a friend. Practically family, really. And family is important to me, especially now." Deanna still didn't say anything since she wasn't sure that there was anything that she could say. Especially to something like that as the girl went on to explain in a softer tone, "I won't be reckless about it. I'll rest first. It'll make the backlash less...trouble for everyone."

"There's nothing that I can do or say to change your mind, is there?"

"Nope."

Deanna sighed but nodded her head anyways, "Alright. I can live with that. But on the conditions that you actually rest. Eat and sleep for as long as you can while the doc monitor's your friend's condition for more of a decline. And when you go to help him, _I_ go with you."

"That's fair," The girl said with a curt nod before finally turning her head and motioning to Sasha and Ty, both of whom had already been disarmed. "These two are my new friends and would make excellent additions to the community."

"Fair enough. Now let's get the three of you settled in and get you all fed and stuff. I hope that you don't mind if you're new friends stay with you for the time being."

"I have no issues with that. Ty, Sasha- come on! We're going to get some food and shower and stuff!"


End file.
